Sociologists must find these to be fascinating times to live in.  History is being made while the world we live in is rapidly turning into a digitally connected environment. It is a wonder to see the impact web 2.0 has on events that determine the course of our lives.

Provided you’ve been hooked on your RSS feed properly over the past few weeks, you’ve seen the latest accounts on the effects of social networking and blogs on the US Presidential Election Campaign:

In an interesting article in PCWorld.com author Cyndy Aleo-Carreira points out that President-elect Obama’s campaign “reach across social networking was enormous in scope, with a presence on every conceivable social network, from Twitter to Facebook, and MySpace to LinkedIn.” She then concludes her analysis by stating that “the era of the Internet campaign has begun.”  ZDNet quotes interesting elections related FaceBook figures supporting this conclusion:

• President-elect Obama is the most popular page on Facebook, with 2.5 million supporters. Michael Phelps is second with 1.6 million.
• Overall activity on the site on Election Day was up 20 percent.
• More than 5.44 million people clicked the “I voted” button on Facebook to tell their friends they voted.

Presiden-elect Obama didn’t abandon the internet after the campaign’s victorious outcome but rather, he now brings the web into his administration. The Obama administration decided to broadcast the weekly presidential addresses to YouTube and has already began to post videos on Obama’s transition Web site, Change.gov.

The Washington Post reveals that in addition to regularly videotaping the address, officials at the transition office say the Obama White House will also conduct online Q&As and video interviews. The goal, officials say, is to put a face on government.
Being somewhat addicted to social media ourselves, it’s exciting to discover and re-discover how influential online interaction has become.

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We all like to recommend our favorite websites, articles we find interesting or other attention-grabbing news stories.  In fact, social networking largely thrives on the idea that we love to share our web findings with our online friends.  Today, some of us at Kontera gathered to give recommendations of our favorite sites.  Thought you’d be interested in paying a visit:

Adi Elimelech, a Kontera Ruby Developer, recommends www.tripit.com. “Tripit is a site that helps you to quickly organize all your travel plans, and saves you the job by creating an actual itinerary of your trip.  I discovered it after some of my friends used it to plan their trip.  It’s a great website and an original utility- like having a personal automated travel agent”.

Gabi Peles, Kontera’s Director, Product & Operations browses through a relatively new engine, www.mahalo.com. “I discovered Mahalo not long ago and I have come to appreciate it. Mahalo is a kind of a user generated search-engine, where each page provides a rich description of the keyword sought”.

Ariel Gluckson, Publisher Support Coordinator tells about Woot.com. “Woot.com is a site I visit often to see what’s today’s buy. I think it takes a creative edge to blow-out sales tactics. Every day Woot lists one product for a 24 hour time period and sells it at a price well under the retail.  I’d totally recommend anyone to at least have a look”.

Mika Tal, Publisher Services Manager recommends  k21st.wordpress.com.  “K21 is a blog that aggregates all the best of new thought innovation in practically every known field. It includes everything that goes under the conception of futurism, bringing the latest advancements in various fields and incorporating them into one accessible arsenal of knowledge”.

Barak Levi, a QA team member spends his free time learning Ruby (a true programming devotee). His recommendations are all Ruby related. “I recommend www.ruby-lang.org and railscasts.com to anyone interested in getting into the world of Ruby.  These sites contain documentation and guides and screencasts that tell you how to start from zero and build your way up to becoming a top Ruby on Rails programmer.”